• dudeami0A
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    14 days ago

    It’s is M.2, but not the M/B+M key most M2 SSDs use but rather a A+E meant for WIFI/Bluetooth. According to this video it’s essentially 2 PCI Express x1 lanes and USB 2.0. The video goes on to explain some possible alternative uses:

    • A gigabit ethernet adapter
    • 2x SATA ports for a standard SATA drive
    • Coral tensor processor
    • SD card reader
    • 2x USB A-type ports
    • Some type of SIM card adapter (video wasn’t quite sure on it either)
    • A PCI Express x16 slot that only functionally works as a x1

    So while does this slot has it’s uses, it’s not meant to be used for M.2 drives but rather WIFI.

    • qupada@fedia.io
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      14 days ago

      it’s essentially 2 PCI Express x1 lanes and USB 2.0

      Sometimes there’s only a single PCIe lane though. And as you say, that’s not a x2 but explicitly two x1s.

      No WiFi card needs the bandwidth (yet), at PCIe 3 speeds you’ve got around 7.8Gbps for a x1, and PCIe 4 double that.

      The Coral comes in a “dual” version for exactly this reason (https://coral.ai/products/m2-accelerator-dual-edgetpu/) you just have to be very sure the slot you’re putting it in is actually delivering two PCIe connections.

      Also for bonus fun, most WiFi/BT cards use the PCIe interface for the WiFi and USB for the Bluetooth.